Permanently Marked
by killerqueen-underpressure
Summary: Perhaps going behind his back and doing something absolutely ridiculous wasn't the best idea, but Squall knew anyways. He always knows.


It kills.

There is no other way to describe the pain - the burning, stinging, shearing, stabbing sensation of a raw sunburn being run under the shower water for the first time. How she yearns for relief, but she knows that there is still time left.

Some spots ache more than others, but that's perfectly normal. The soft spots on her body from the war cry, tense, and beg for mercy - enough is enough.

With a deep, inward breath comes some form relief; a technique she was taught in order to get through a battle with a wound. Rinoa feels a bead of sweat roll down her forehead and Selphie wipes it away with a tender thumb. The sorceress fears movement, thinking it'll just bring more pain. Quistis sits in the corner with a book, unphased and utterly unimpressed.

Rinoa releases the hostage air in her chest at the sudden silence, letting her head fall into her crossed arms in front of her. "How much longer?" She whines.

The tattoo machine revs once more, causing her body to tense almost instantly.

"Just finishing up some shading, doll. Almost done."

"It looks amazing, Rinny," Selphie chimes, leaning back to see the permanent drawing etched onto her friends skin. "You're gonna love it!"

"This actually may be the biggest piece I've ever done," the artist says, dipping the cluster of needles into more black ink before settling into his position. Rinoa whimpers, feeling the sensation cross her lower back and travel her hip. _Almost done_ , she says, _almost done_.

It was Zell's growing collection that pulled her in. She always admired the fluid lines etched into his face, the depth of the black, and most importantly, how the tattoo was _him_. That simple, seemingly stupid tribal design symbolized Zell's personality - his daring nature, his hot-headed temper, even his softer side. Rinoa blamed her view on his body art because of her astrological sign - Pisces are dreamy, artistic people, you know - but while Zell paid gil after gil for ink, Rinoa became more and more anxious.

"I can't believe you're doing this," Quistis hums, sighing, "Squall isn't a big fan of tattoos."

"Well good thing the tattoo is on my body and not his." A cheeky smile spreads across Rinoa's face, but she doesn't move, fearful of messing up a single line drawn on her forever. The pain slowly begins to dim, turning from sharp to dull ache. She's thankful; the beginning happened with a few choice phrases on her end while squeezing Selphie's hand.

"I wonder how he'll react," the perky brunette wonders, leaning forward again to peek, "It sure is pretty."

"He'll probably say something along the lines of it being impulsive and irresponsible, but he'll get over it when he sees how hot it is in the summer with my bathing suit."

Rinoa is allowed to giggle now. The buzzing has halted and Rinoa sits up straight, cupping her bra to her otherwise exposed chest. When she looks over her shoulder, she only sees a fraction of her new body: there are delicate lines, weaving and stretching into each other before bleeding into gentle shading that gives realistic depth. And then there is red - so much red from dried blood, plasma, and irritated porcelain skin. Cool water washes away any burning, any dull and every ache possible and she sighs. Finally. Relief.

"Feel free to get up and take a look before I wrap it up."

The petite girl stands up, waltzes to the full length mirror and turns around.

She smiles.

"It's perfect."

"Here's a question."

Rinoa and Selphie chorus a groan, rolling their eyes together at yet another Quistis-Debbie-Downer question. The sorceress walks carefully, feeling the ink in her skin tighten as it begins to scab over. Perhaps getting such a large piece wasn't the best idea, but Zell said to go big or go home, so that's what she did. Does she regret it? Not necessarily. Besides, when it began to itch, she had no other option but not to itch it unless she finds a spell that makes her arms grow longer and to make her head spin so she can see where exactly it's itching.

Not like that's going to happen.

"How are you going to put lotion on this thing and the ointment without Squall knowing?"

Rinoa sighs, "It's not like I'm not going to tell him. It's not not noticeable."

"Stop being such a buzz-kill, Quisty!" Selphie shouts, turning around to look at the blonde and bouncing on her heels. At this point, they've left Balamb and have returned to Garden where Irvine and Zell are anxiously awaiting to see Rinoa's new tattoo. Squall is working up in the Command Center, as always, and will meet up with them for dinner later on in the night once he stops at the dorm both him and Rinoa share to change out of his SeeD uniform.

He always says the thing is so constricting.

Then Irvine winks at Rinoa. Rinoa giggles. Squall groans.

"I'm most certainly not being a buzz-kill, I'm being realistic in the sense that you did something permanent to your body without Squall knowing. He is not going to react lightly to it." Quistis crosses her arms, looking at the plastic wrap that pokes out from beneath Rinoa's short-sleeved shirt. She wonders if Rinoa is going to change her shirt before Squall gets out of work, if she'll let him know before or after dinner, or how Rinoa is even going to tell him. If anyone knew Squall the best before Rinoa came into the picture, it's Quistis. And Quistis knows that Squall is the type to fall into his anti-social, irritable ways when things are kept from him.

"Don't worry about it," Rinoa says, turning the corner that rounds into the cafeteria. "It'll be fine. If he's mad at me, I'll just shake it." She makes a point by stopping in her tracks, moving her hips a little from side to side, before proceeding to walk again. Selphie giggles amd Quistis shakes her head, and Rinoa winces quickly from the feeling of her jeans rubbing against the irritated skin.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Zell jumps up and down once he sees his friends, runs up to Rinoa and freezes mid-hug. "Shit, ah, can't really hug you, right?"

"Yeah, it kind of hurts," Rinoa giggles, blushing slightly before running her hand through her hair, "Well, more sore."

"Normal," the male blonde smiles, walking back over to the table where Irvine sits alone before Selphie plops herself in his lap. "Did he do a good job?"

"AH-MAZING!" Selphie cheers, "Irvy, we should get matching tattoos!"

Irvine blushes, tiling his hat downward at the mentioning of sharing something permanent with the bubble of energy he calls his girlfriend, "Ah, maybe….not so soon…"

"BUT IT'S BEEN TWO -."

"Let me see," Zell cuts her off mid-sentence before standing behind Rinoa and lifting up the bottom of her shirt that shields her back. He notices the lines, shading, depth and perfect precision of the man who tattoo'd his body since he was seventeen. Now he had left a beautiful piece of artwork on one of his best friends - a best friend he fought beside in the Sorceress War, a best friend he considered more like a sister than anything. "It's fucking gorgeous" is all he could mutter.

"Isn't it?" Rinoa coos, smiling to herself. Zell respects her boundaries by not lifting up the shirt any more than to see the center of her back. He knows the tattoo curves into her hips, but to see that required Rinoa to slightly shimmy her jeans past where they already are and the last thing they need is Squall walking in on Rinoa's pants farther down than normal and Zell behind her, staring in awe.

It would just look wrong.

"How are you gonna tell him?" Irvine asks, lighting a fire under Rinoa's ass that makes her face go red.

" _Why_ does it matter?" She snaps, "I've gotten that _all_ day from Quistis. It's _my_ body and it's _my_ -."

"What are you yelling about?"

The voice stops Rinoa mid-rant as she turns around and sees her boyfriend standing there, an eyebrow raised and still in his uniform. She immediately claps her hands behind her back, moves her right foot back and forth and then decides that yes, she's still mad, and she storms off with a glare in the direction of her friends.

"I have candidates studying and she's yelling about…" Squall turns around, watches the heel of her shoe disappear around the corner towards the dormitories, "What was she yelling about?" He runs a hand through his hair before sliding an icy glare towards his friends.

"Nothing."

"I don't know."

"Nope."

"Not gonna say a word."

Rinoa sighs, leaning her body forward as her hands on the counter keep her steady. Looking down, she introspects - wonders what truly she has done and realizes that, yes, Squall is going to have a rather large reaction to what she has just done to her body.

It's not like what she got has no meaning. That was the first thing Zell told her, that it has to have meaning; it needs to be something you love, something that is a part of you, and something you can look at ten, twenty, fifty years from now and still smile like the first time you saw it. Rinoa had thought it was corny when he said that, rolled her eyes even, but when she picked her design, she knew it belonged on her body.

Perhaps it was after she became a sorceress and tested her first limit break on the Ragnarok, but the feeling of having angel wings sprout of your body, although it's not a good experience, is something that she will always feel is a permanent part of her. Her magic is permanent now that the war is over and she's safe and she can control her powers. The angel wings tell her that she is in control, although at the time of her first limit break, she felt totally and completely out of control. With the passed two years and with the help of Matron, she has learned to control her powers. She can now test her limit break, become an angel and feel her feet glide off of the ground when she feels an enemy deserves her best and strongest magic.

It symbolizes more than her power and her magic, but her mental capacity to handle everything that had been handed to her that year. She was thrown through a whirlwind when she made a deal with Cid. She never meant to fight a war, become a sorceress and fall in love with a SeeD who technically was hers to boss around until Timber was liberated. But she handled it, and she broke down that one time in Trabia, but that was it.

The wings symbolized the war, her strength, and the love in her heart. Who she is, and who she had become.

 _Squall wouldn't understand that_ , she says in her head, _he simply wouldn't. His thinking can be too two-dimensional sometimes. That's where we differ._

 _However_ , she thinks as she rises her head, _he should respect me enough as a person to realize that this is a choice I made for me and me alone._

The door behind her shut gently as Squall enters the suite, quiet and smart enough to know that Rinoa is thinking to herself. He senses her energy and views her, noticing every tight muscle and bone in her body at that moment. He also sees the plastic and he sighs.

"How much was it?"

Rinoa spins around, "What?"

"The tattoo. How much was it?"

She's stunned. "What...how…"

"You left the card on the counter a month ago and I threw it out. I knew you would remember the appointment anyways."

The two just stare at each other: Rinoa surprised and relieved and Squall...blank and...amused?

"Why are you smirking?" Rinoa yells, a slight smile on her face. "WHY didn't you tell me you knew?!"

"Because it's a lot more fun watching your friends and girlfriend keep a secret from you when you know them all like the back of your hand." Squall peels his gloves off of his hands and throws them on the tiny table that him and Rinoa use for mail instead of eating. Eating takes place with take-out most nights or cafeteria food on the loveseat in the living room in front of the television with the latest episode of what they're binge watching.

Squall's picky so it's exciting for Rinoa when he finally picks something they can watch together.

"I don't know what you got, but judging by the plastic that I can see poking out of the sides of your shirt near your hips as well as the plastic up near the back neckline of your shirt, it's big. I trust you picked something important."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Rinoa stands back from the counter as she pulls her shirt off of her body carefully not to pull any plastic with it. Squall watches her, remembering every curve of her perfectly before it even being shown to him. When she turns around, he's shocked, but then he sighs and walks forward, beginning to peel the plastic off.

"What are you doing?" Rinoa asks, pulling away from him.

"How long have you had the plastic on?"

"Two hours."

"It's fine."

"How…" Rinoa feels the plastic slowly being lifted from the tattoo. It's sticky, like pulling a band-aid off of slightly damp skin.

"I read up on it when I saw the card," he explains, "Cid walked in on me and asked if I was getting one."

Rinoa giggles, cupping her hair in a hand-ponytail to move it out of the way. She feels Squall unfasten her bra to finish taking off the plastic so she moves her hand in front of her chest to hold the cups in place. "Would you?"

She knows he shrugs. He always does, but then he crumples up the plastic and tosses it in the trash bin next to the sink. "Not sure. It would have to be important. Did you buy -."

"In the bag." Rinoa moves her hand cupping her bra to point to the bag that contained unscented lotion, antibacterial ointment, unscented soap, and other odds and ends that she ended up purchasing after the appointment. She doesn't realize that she's naked from the hips up until her bra hits the ground and her cheeks flush a red so deep that it rivals the irritation on her back.

She hides her breasts with the same arm.

Squall sees, shakes his head, grabs the soap and ointment before pushing his girlfriend into the bathroom. "It's not like I haven't seen it before."

He dampens a washcloth before running it gently over her skin, washing away any debris before lathering the soap across her bath. Rinoa sighs, relaxing at his touch.

"Thank you."

"For what?" Squall questions, beginning to rinse off the suds on her back that are a light grey color.

"Not being mad."

He sighs, grabbing a dry hand towel and dabbing at her back.

"I'm not going to pretend that you didn't go behind my back and do something completely ludicrous, but I'm going to respect your decision. You don't need to tell me everything, but I just don't like that you hid it."

Rinoa's head falls. Typical Squall - being honest and making her feel bad. Then again, she did deserve it. She shouldn't have hid it but she did and now she must suffer the consequences.

"...Are you mad?"

"No."

"You sound mad."

"I'm not."

"Yeah, I guess that's just how you talk…"

She hears Squall sigh as she giggles to herself, "You really shouldn't test me when I have raw, healing skin right in front of me."

"You WOULDN'T."

Squall chuckles, beginning to smooth ointment over the top of her tattoo. Thankfully Rinoa got a big enough jar of the stuff so that way Squall wouldn't have to get an emergency supply from the Infirmary at 10pm after her nightly shower.

"Selphie said that she wants Irvine to get a matching one with her…" Rinoa whispers, seeing that Squall put down the jar of ointment. He hands her a clean shirt from inside the linen closet before leaning against the bathroom sink. "I think that's too much."

Squall nods, "I'm glad we agree on that. Even if we were together forever, tattoos are a bit much."

Rinoa smirks, sensing a time for her to be utterly and annoyingly embarrassing. She shimmies her way into Squall's arms carefully, wrapping her own arms around his strong neck and bopping her nose with his. The look on his face is priceless - his eyebrows being pushed together and he moves back slightly when their noses touch which in turn, makes Rinoa giggle.

"So you think we'll be together forever? How cuuuuuuute!"

"I never said that."

"You inferred it!" Rinoa taps the tip of her index finger on Squall's forehead where the tip of his scar begins, "You said 'even if we were together forever' meaning you think we will be."

"The word 'if' was in that sentence which makes my sentence, and my beliefs, more indefinite."

"Whomp-whomp-whomp, I'm Squall, I'm a grammar soldier. I'm a fun sucker." Rinoa makes a clasp with her hands, moving it up and down in a speaking motion as she talks. Squall tries to wiggle her off of him but it proves more difficult than normal considering he doesn't want to just shove her off of him with her new tattoo still being bright red. She holds on tight to him as he pushes himself off of the counter, stands up, and eventually he lifts her off of the ground with his hands on the back of her thighs instead of the normal position of them being on her hips.

He walks with her in his hands, his delicate yet strong angel with permanent wings on her back and legs wrapped sturdily around his waist.

"Do you think the tattoo suits me?" She asks. Squall places Rinoa on the edge of the bed as he begins to change out of his SeeD uniform and into his normal pants and signature jacket. He turns around and looks at her, sitting there with her legs crossed and in, what he notices as, one of his tank tops. She looks up at him, her eyes begging for his approval, knowing and admitting to herself that yes, she shouldn't have gone behind his back, that she's sorry, and wants his blessing.

Squall can't help but smile softly before pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. "Yes, it does. I promise."

 **Authors Note: CORNY CORNY CORNY. Yes, this is not the best thing I've written. Yes, this is a kind-of-crack concept. Yes, I totally just banged it out in about two hours and I wanted to share it because this is me beginning to find my love of writing again before diving head first into a completely insane and huge project.**

 **I think this was my way of not doing my work for school. College isn't fun. Senoritis is real. We need more awareness.**

 **I'm overtired so I'm going to stop typing...now.**


End file.
